Exploding an object by parts
There's no officially prescribed way that I'm aware of, but this is a quick way to do it;

In these example, I have one object with a lot of loose parts that are all, themselves, manifold.

To modify a single object with multiple meshes

Enter edit mode on the object with Tab;



Change your pivot point to "Individual Origins";



Scale the meshes down to the desired separation;



Set the pivot point back to "Median Point"



Scale the meshes back up to the desired display size;



To use separate objects, one mesh each



I hit space (or F3, or whatever your search key is set to) and search for "Separate";



Then, I select "loose parts";



Now, search for, and select, "Set Origin"



Then select "To Geometry";



Each mesh will have it's own object. Now change your pivot point to "Individual origins";



Now, with all the objects selected, scale them down to a desired spacing;





Change your pivot point back to "Median Point", then scale up to the desired final size;